Sunday 5 August 2012

Bead Soup updates, new work and a giveaway

Warning...long post ahead. But do read till the end - you'll be greatly rewarded (i.e. there's a giveaway).


If I've been strangely silent these past weeks, it's because I've been in a tizzy figuring out what exactly to do with the bead soup I received from my partner, Carmen of Little Maketto. All those baby blue and pink beads have me seriously terrified, and the last thing I wanted to do was to blog. 

But I had a breakthrough yesterday, and finally created something that didn't look like it needed to be binned. I hope you'll come back on August 11 to see what I made. 

Btw, have you visited the BSBP participants who revealed their pieces on Jul 28? If you haven't, I suggest you do so by going here. I'm still making my way through the list but I can assure you that you'll be drooling over the stunning pieces everyone created. 

Now, despite my recent silence, I haven't been entirely up to nothing. Hair-pulling and teeth gnashing apart, I've been playing with resin. Again. A good friend in the US sent me some Jewelry Resin a while back and I finally took it out to play yesterday. I'm used to ICE Resin so the product wasn't entirely unfamiliar. It did need an extra step to prep it though, but the results were pretty good.



This pendant was a huge disappointment. You can see resin seepage at the top. I used 3 layers of Mod Podge to seal it but I guess I wasn't as careful as I'd thought. The little cloudy bit up top is also where I sanded away a tiny bit of fluff that settled during the curing process. I'll be brushing on a layer of resin to cover it up later. I hear that works. 


Now this is my Christmas in August pendant :-). My first attempt at including glitter in my resin experiments - boy, does it get everywhere! The glittery brads remind me of Christmas ornaments so I'm calling it my Deck the Halls pendant. I might list it in my Etsy store. What do you think...should I? 


Ah...this ring. I had a smidgen of resin left and didn't want to waste it. Desperation led to squished up paper and leftover rhinestones haphazardly stuffed into a ring blank. Not a complete eyesore. Surprisingly. 

And finally, to wrap up this (very) long post, I'm pleased to announce my very first giveaway. It was only after I posted my previous blog entry that I realised it had been my 100th post. An accomplishment for someone who often begins something, but doesn't necessarily complete it. Unless it's a book. So to celebrate this milestone, I'd like to say thank you to everyone who's come by, read my posts, left a comment etc by giving away the bead soup below. 


It's rather a mixed-up bead soup - by which I mean, I chose beads that had meaning for me and which I thought were pretty and not because they coordinated with each other - but I hope you'll like it. From top left, going clockwise: resin pendant (my handiwork), wooden squares (could be faux wood; I got them from Japan), small glass discs (also from Japan, they reminded me of candy), amethyst (my birthstone and if you believe in crystals, it guards against guilty and fearful feelings), vintage faux pearl clasp, brown/amber lampwork glass (again, from Japan), rhodonite (just cos it's pretty, and also raises self-worth and wards off negativity), dark blue lampwork w/silver foil, vintage orange  beads, and blue lampwork bead (from Japan too). 

The giveaway is open to anyone and everyone. Just leave a comment and I'll pick a random winner on Aug 9. 

18 comments:

  1. Commenting not only for the giveaway but to let you know you have a great blog.Love and Hugs Tanya

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    1. Thanks Tanya! Heading over to check out your blog now :-)

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  2. I like your Christmas resin piece, I haven't tried any resin as of yet, but it's on my bucket list. The bead soup for the giveaway is fab! I especially like those little orange ones. Annita

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    1. Thanks for popping by, Annita. Glad you think the bead soup's fab! It took me some time to get the hang of working with resin. As you can see, I still have issues with it once in a while, but it can be really satisfying when it's done right. Hope you get to play with it soon.

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  3. I love the design of that first pendant. Hope the sanding worked out? I have been thinking of trying my hand at resin (and even Modpodge) for a long time now....but am still a bit scared to do it. It needs so much precision!

    And that's a really sweet soup you are giving away :)

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    1. Thanks for your comments Kashmira. I haven't had time to brush on more resin yet on that pendant. I'll post an update when I do to say if it works or not. Seems like people are scared off by resin - but it's really not that hard. You'll run into glitches - like seepage, overflow, fluff on pieces (I get this a lot since I'm impatient and keep removing the cover to look at how my piece is curing lol) - but it gets easier, I promise. I'm not the neatest or most careful person, so if I can manage resin, I'm sure you can too :-).

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  4. I really like that first pendant! Thanks for the chance to win the beads.

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    1. You're very welcome, and thanks for dropping by!

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  5. I hope I'm not commenting twice. I love your resin work. My favorite is the pink ring. I've thought about trying out resin, but I'm still working my way through the more basic techniques. I'm excited for the give away. The soup is fantastic. I look forward to seeing your reveal this weekend!

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    1. It took me ages to get the nerve to play with resin. But when I finally did, everything turned out fine. Hope you get round to trying resin - it's fun! Thanks for coming by and for your kind words :-)

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  6. I super love your pendants! The first one is my fave - so cute!
    Lovely soup that you have up to win as well, thank you for the chance to win it! :)

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    1. You're very welcome, and thanks for the kind words!

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  7. Yeah!!! A chance to win those lovely beads! I love your stash from Japan. hehehe... Also, those new resin pendants are BEAUTIFUL. Keep the experiment coming!

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    1. I have more stash from Japan, so I think they'll make their way into future giveaways :-). Yes ma'am, will keep experimenting.

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  8. i'm so sorry that my beads are giving you such a hard time!!! i'm sure whatever it is, you'll be revealing something beautiful... i had a great time working with the decorative clasp (i divided it up into two separate pieces!) but struggled very much with the chain/design for the focal pendant.. i'm mostly finished just that I need to find the time to photograph the pieces.

    neway on to your main post, the first resin pendant is so pretty!!! too bad it's marred a little.. hopefully u can fix it... i can't wait to get my hands on to resin... but i doubt i'll have time or concentration till after september... oh ya.. selamat berpuasa!

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    1. No need to apologise Carmen! It's just me and my deathly fear of pastels LOL. So funny that we both struggled with our bead soups. Shan't tell you the hair pulling that went on when I was trying to work what to do with the focal you gave. Resin is fun! Hope you get to try it sometime. And thanks for the Ramadan wishes!

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  9. I like the creativity on your ring. I never thought of doing this I going to try it out. Oh by the way love the pendant you made. :)

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    1. Thanks for coming by and commenting! Yeah, that ring turned out better than expected. It's amazing what resin can do :-)

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